Gulf carrier Qatar Airways is to expand its freight network with three additional cargo services to North America. The airline, which operates three Airbus A300-600Fs and two Boeing 777Fs, will introduce flights in November to Atlanta, Houston and Toronto. All will be operated to and from Doha with the US flights making an intermediate stop in Luxembourg, the airline’s new European cargo hub following its purchase of a minority stake in local operator Cargolux.

Qatar Airways will initially offer a twice weekly service to Atlanta and Houston from November 2, adding to its existing cargo flights to Chicago, while links to Toronto will be introduced five days later on November 7 (Qatar Airways also offers belly-hold cargo capacity to Houston, New York and Washington on a daily basis together with thrice-weekly flights to Montreal).

Away from North America, Qatar Airways will also introduce a weekly cargo flight to Jeddah from October 30, while frequencies to existing destinations including Chicago, Colombo, Bahrain, Dammam, Hong Kong and Tehran will also be increased during the Northern Winter schedules.

"With the recent completion of our 35 per cent stake in Cargolux, Europe's largest cargo airline, we have increased our focus on freighter operations, which ties seamlessly into the airline's strategy to have as many connecting points across the globe from our Doha hub," said Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Airways Group. "We have identified tremendous route expansion opportunities around the world, including North America where the freighter market is huge."